The separation and sorting of particles having different properties has many valuable industrial, medical, pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and scientific applications. Various different methods and devices for the separation and/or sorting of particles based on differences in physical or chemical properties of the particles are known in the art.
For example, methods for separating or sorting living cells, sub-cellular components and organelles, or other macromolecules or molecular complexes or multimolecular aggregates of biological or synthetic origin are often required in the fields of biotechnology, medicine, diagnostic tests, and processes associated with drug development and drug screening. Such sorting or separation methods may include, inter alia, centrifugation methods, density gradient separation methods, magnetic-based separation methods, flow cytometry (FC) methods, and fluorescence assisted cell sorting (FACS) methods. Advanced methods for cell sorting, separation, and manipulation may use various different methods of trapping and manipulation of particles, cells and sub-cellular organelles by using laser beam trapping and manipulation (also known as “laser tweezers”).